A man has been detained by police in China’s Gansu province for allegedly creating and spreading fake news using the language model ChatGPT. The suspect, identified as Hong, is believed to have used artificial intelligence technology to produce false information. The case came to light after the cyber division of a county police bureau noticed a fabricated news article claiming that nine individuals had died in a train accident on April 25th. This arrest marks a significant development in China’s efforts to combat the spread of fake news through AI technology.
According to reports, authorities in Kongtong County detected a fabricated news article that claimed nine people had been killed in a train accident. The article was simultaneously posted by more than 20 accounts on Baijiahao, which is a blog-style platform owned by Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant. The fake news stories had received over 15,000 clicks before authorities were alerted to the issue by the county’s cyber division. This is the first publicized detention by Chinese authorities following the implementation of regulations to control the use of deep fake technology in January of this year.
The Administrative Provisions on Deep Synthesis for Internet Information Service were implemented to regulate deep learning and augmented reality technologies to generate text, images, audio, and video and create virtual scenarios. Police traced the origins of the fake news article to a media company owned by a suspect surnamed Hong, who operated personal media platforms registered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Hong was detained after a police team searched his home and computer approximately ten days after the fabricated article appeared online.
Chinese man detained for using AI to generate and spread fake news
Hong’s activities were brought to the attention of the cyber division of a county police bureau when they discovered a fake news article claiming nine people had been killed in a train accident. The article had been simultaneously posted on more than 20 accounts on Baijiahao, a blog-style platform owned by Baidu, one of China’s largest search engine companies. The fake news stories had garnered more than 15,000 clicks before authorities intervened.
This is the first instance of detention related to deepfake technology following the implementation of regulations to control its use earlier this year. The Administrative Provisions on Deep Synthesis for Internet Information Service defined profound synthesis as using technologies like deep learning and augmented reality to create virtual scenarios, images, audio, and video.
Police traced the origin of the fake news article to a media company owned by the suspect, Hong. He operated personal media platforms registered in Shenzhen, a city in southern China’s Guangdong province. Approximately ten days after the fake news article appeared online, a police team searched Hong’s home and computer and took him into custody.
Hong reportedly admitted to bypassing Baijiahao’s duplication check function to publish on multiple accounts he had acquired. He allegedly input elements of trending social stories in China from past years into ChatGPT to quickly produce different versions of the same fake story, which he uploaded to his Baijiahao accounts. While ChatGPT is not directly available to Chinese IP addresses, Chinese users can still access the service with a reliable VPN connection.
Is the man’s arrest in China for using ChatGPT to create fake news a warning sign for AI technology?
Chinese police have arrested a man in Gansu province for allegedly using artificial intelligence (AI) to create and spread false information online. The suspect Hong, was accused of using ChatGPT to produce a fake news article claiming that nine people had died in a local train accident in April. The article was posted simultaneously on over 20 accounts on Baidu’s blog-style platform, Baijiahao, and received over 15,000 clicks before being reported to authorities.
Hong was traced to a company he owned in Shenzhen and detained after confessing to using ChatGPT to produce different versions of the same fake story. He was accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” which carries a maximum sentence of five years. The arrest is the first publicly reported instance of detention in China related to the use of AI to generate fake news since new regulations governing the use of “deepfake” technology came into force in January.
The use of deep fake technology, which involves creating synthetic media to swap faces or voices, has become a standard method to spread disinformation, fake celebrity porn, and commit financial fraud. The increasing sophistication of the technology makes it challenging to detect. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have implemented measures to prevent its spread. The Chinese law enforcement authorities have warned about the risks of ChatGPT, which has gained popularity recently. In February, Beijing police advised people to be cautious of rumors generated by the chatbot.
